Port Orange, Riverwalk developer go separate ways

Buddy LaCour said he and his partners will move ahead with their own plans for three 15-story condos, offices and a "major name" restaurant and 42-slip marina.

RAY WEISSSTAFF WRITER

PORT ORANGE — The proposed marriage between Port Orange and Riverwalk's master developer is off. Both parties acknowledged Friday that a long-negotiated land swap ended recently in stalemate because of irreconcilable differences. Buddy LaCour said he and his partners will move ahead with their own project. He expects to submit plans next month for three 15-story condos, offices and a "major name" restaurant to adjoin a riverboat eatery, cafe and 42-slip marina that previously were approved by the city. "The rhetoric is over," he said. "We've talked about it almost 15 years and we're done talking." At the heart of the breakup was the city's desire to keep a cleared former trailer park it bought several years ago as the site of a public park – property LaCour sought in the land swap. City Councilman Drew Bastian said the breakup might be best for both sides. "The swap is dead for Port Orange. I think it's good because we're not going to give away valuable property. We still have an option to build the park on property we control," Bastian said. "I hope his project is successful and makes Riverwalk a reality, a destination that is going to draw people to the area. I hope we can make it work." Port Orange has unsuccessfully looked for projects for the 35-acre waterfront redevelopment district for 15 years. The City Council last year approved a "master development agreement" and conceptual plan geared toward LaCour's riverboat proposal for Riverwalk, which goes from U.S. Highway 1 to the river and north of Dunlawton Avenue to almost the South Daytona line. Several impressive plans date back to 1998 but nothing came of them. Councilman Bob Ford, an outspoken critic of LaCour's land-swap proposal, said he would have preferred a coordinated project between the city and developers, "but it doesn't appear to be possible." "We can't come to an agreement on a whole bunch of things," Ford said. "What killed it was he wanted too much property for what he was giving. ... We would have ended up with a narrow sliver of park on the river." Moving forward, Ford said LaCour has a right to develop the property he owns "as long as it's consistent with codes." The city owns about 17 acres in Riverwalk, LaCour and his partners 11 and other individuals the remaining land. LaCour said his new proposal, if approved, would result in more than $100 million in property value on the city's tax roll. "We've invested a tremendous amount of money over the years. We hoped we'd be under construction by now," he said. "But there's a lack of commitment from the city. ... We've been playing this game for 15 years and it doesn't work, and we're not going to do it anymore. ... This is the only solution for us to move it off dead center."

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